Niantic
Latest
The anime adaptation of mobile game 'Ingress' is now on Netflix
More than a year ago, we were told Niantic, Inc. was working on an Ingress: The Animation streaming series. Today, the anime show, a sci-fi adventure thriller, is available on Netflix, and you can watch the trailer below.
'Pokémon Go' challenges you to photograph its AR creatures
Now that Pokémon Go has a photo mode, Niantic is encouraging you to use it the best way it knows how: the promise of goodies. It's launching a Go Snapshot Challenge that rewards you for taking photos that include the game's augmented reality critters. A Buddy Challenge category encourages you to take selfies with your favorite creature, a Habitat Challenge asks you to take a picture based on a Pokémon's 'natural' element, and a Go Create Challenge allows more free-form photography.
'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' is about protecting muggles
We may not know when the new Harry Potter mobile game is coming, but we do have an inkling of what it'll be like when it arrives. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will focus on the Statute of Secrecy Task Force, hunting out and capturing rogue creatures, people and objects that have escaped from the wizarding world. You, as a new recruit to the team, will be tasked with protecting the muggle world from these calamities as they crop up.
'Pokémon Go' is testing high noon raids
Next week, Pokémon Go will experiment with a new feature: lunch hour raid battles. On March 13, from 12pm to 1pm in your local time zone, Pokémon Go will increase the number of raids. If the one-day trial run goes well, lunchtime brawls might become a regular part of the game.
'Pokémon Go' settlement promises action on nuisance Pokéstops
Niantic, the creator of Pokémon Go, has reached a tentative settlement in a class action lawsuit filed against the company by homeowners who claim the game caused players to stumble into their yards searching for Pokémon. As part of the agreement, the company will be more responsive in fielding nuisance complaints from private property owners and will remove gyms and PokéStops that appear near residential areas.
Niantic is turning ‘Pokémon Go’ into an AR photo machine
The augmented reality photo mode in Pokémon Go will soon offer a better way for you to take pictures of your Pokémon. While you've already been able to take photos of Pokémon you see in the wild using the AR+ mode, the Go Snapshot update will allow you to pose and interact with Pokémon you've already captured.
'Pokémon Go' players can finally fight against each other
Over the last couple of hours, Niantic Labs has flipped all the switches and now Pokémon Go players worldwide can engage in PvP battles. They'll need to have reached at least level 10 before fighting, but as the company explained when they were announced, it limits CPs for competing Pokémon by dividing them into leagues to keep things balanced. Real-time battles between players is something people have been anticipating since the augmented reality game launched in 2016, so it could reinvigorate a player base that has dropped off from its peak. If you play, you'll be able to take on people from your Ultra or Best friends list no matter where they are, while fighting others has to be done in person. If you'd rather take on the computer then you can also fight the game's team leaders to gain rewards. Either way, you'll want to save up on in-game resources like Stardust and candies, using them to unlock new Charge attacks ahead of battles for characters like Dragonite or Tyranitar can cost 75,000 Stardust and 75 candies.
'Pokémon Go' will finally let you battle other players
If you've been waiting for the day when you can take on your friends in Pokémon Go, you'll be pleased to know you can do just that later this month. Trainer battles will finally arrive by the end of the year -- two and a half years after the game launched.
'Pokémon Go' creator Niantic to develop GPS-based tourism games
It was at the helm of GPS/AR/Maps-based "exergaming" in 2013 with Ingress, saw phenomenal success with Pokémon Go, and will launch a location-based Harry Potter mobile game next year. Now, Niantic is making the natural move into tourism-focused games. In partnership with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), as part of its Travel.Enjoy.Respect program, the games company will create new experiences that encourage players to explore and discover the hidden histories of both their own neighborhoods and further afield.
'Pokemon Go' creator Niantic's Harry Potter game will arrive in 2019
Pokemon Go developer Niantic Labs said last November that it was working on a Harry Potter mobile game, which will also focus on location-based and augmented-reality gameplay. The company has now revealed it will release Harry Potter: Wizards Unite in 2019, despite expectations that the game would arrive this year.
Niantic revives ‘Ingress’ for the post–’Pokémon Go’ world
Niantic has a problem. It's the king of GPS/AR/Maps–based "exergaming," but it's leasing its empire. Pokémon Go is built on IP it doesn't own or control, and a portion of the profits are sent back to Japan. A chunk of the proceeds from its forthcoming Harry Potter game, already a likely blockbuster, will go to J.K. Rowling. It's why Niantic is taking the time to remind the world that its own, original IP, Ingress, still exists.
'Pokémon Go' will track your activity without launching the app
Pokémon Go has encouraged more than a few people to step up their physical exercise, and Niantic wants to reward that. It's launching an Adventure Sync feature in its augmented reality games (starting with Pokémon Go) that syncs with Google Fit and iOS' HealthKit to translate steps into game progress without having the app open or using a smartwatch. If you regularly go for a run before work, you'll see that reflected in more Pokémon candy or more efficient egg hatching. You'll get weekly milestones, too.
'Pokémon Go' gets a little bigger with 'Diamond' and 'Pearl' monsters
The Pokémon Company has announced that monsters from the Sinnoh region -- the Diamond and Pearl games -- are now available in Pokémon Go. Players will now be able to capture favorites like Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup as they make their debut in the still-popular mobile AR game.
'Pokémon Go' adds Sinnoh region critters from 'Diamond' and 'Pearl'
Here's hoping you saved those candies in Pokémon Go. Now Sinnoh Region Pokémon, introduced in the versions of Diamond and Pearl from the Nintendo DS, are making their way into the game. A teaser of what's to come shows that at least Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup and the legendary Giratina will be in this upcoming wave. A release date was not announced. There will also be some balance changes to the game as well. CP and HP values will be adjusted to even things out. Defense and stamina values will too be rebalanced, preventing tanky Pokémon from taking too long to defeat. Defense overall has been nerfed. And with four generations of Pokémon down, it's only another four before developer Niantic and The Pokemon Company catch up to the mainline series of games. And while Pokémon Go might not have the same hype it did back in 2016, it still has an active--and recently growing. This is in large part to Niantic's continued update release schedule and events, helping inject the game with new things to do. For Halloween this year, the Psychic Spectacular event has trainers capturing as many strong-against-ghost Pokémon as possible. This will culminate with the chance to capture the legendary Pokémon Suicune, as well as some other shinies.
Niantic plans 'Pokémon Go' events in US national parks
In addition to being a fun and entertaining pastime in its own right, augmented reality games have also proven to be a decent way to make players more physically active. Niantic, the developer of two of the most well-known AR games — Pokemon Go and Ingress, — is about to take this aspect further by encouraging players to visit nature trails and scenic rivers across the US. It's also planning to host a series of small-scale events in American national parks.
Pokémon Go's top players can nominate PokéStops in Brazil and Korea
Hot off its 35 percent active player boost this summer, Pokémon Go aims to keep the momentum going with a new PokéStop nominations beta. "Coming soon" for level 40 trainers in Brazil and Korea (excluding kids), with plans for a wider rollout, the feature will let you submit PokéStop locations and objects -- all from within the app's Settings menu.
'Pokémon Go' saw a 35 percent growth this summer
Pokémon Go remains one of the most recognizable mobile games around, but it definitely experienced periods of user decline over the past couple of years after it took the world by storm. While not everyone who used to play the game picked it up again, it sounds like this past summer has been good to it -- according to Niantic, it saw a 35 percent increase in active usage since May. That's in line with a SuperData report from June, which said that the game had its highest active user count in May since its debut in 2016.
Niantic snaps up Seismic Games to build new AR experiences
Niantic has acquired yet another developer in a bid to conquer AR gaming. The Pokémon Go creator has announced that it has acquired LA-based Seismic Games, mostly known for turn-based mobile RPG Marvel: Strikeforce. You can assemble Marvel characters in the free-to-play title, which brought in $25 million in worldwide player spending over the past four months. Seismic is also the company behind Blade Runner: Revelations, a virtual reality game for Google Daydream. According to Niantic, it will continue to work on its own games but will transition into building all-new AR experiences for the company going forward.
An 'Ingress' anime series is coming to Netflix
There's no question that Pokémon Go has overshadowed Niantic's original augmented reality game, Ingress. The developer may have a clever way of revitalizing interest when Ingress' major revamp arrives, though: launch a streaming video series to capture gamers' attention. Variety has learned that Netflix, Fuij TV and Crafter are collaborating on Ingress: The Animation, an anime series that will serve as an introduction to the next game, Ingress Prime. Both are expected to launch sometime around October.
After two years, 'Pokémon Go' is finally letting you trade monsters
It's been almost two years since Nintendo and Niantic released the mobile hit Pokémon Go. While the game's (very) slow feature rollout has whittled down the userbase to diehard fans, interaction with the upcoming Switch games make it a good time to get back in the game. But today, the game announced it's ready to roll out a Poké-critical function that's been missing since launch day: Trading your little beasties with anyone and everyone.
